Patriots over Ravens
The loss of Welker isn’t as damaging as you might think. Rookie Julian Edelman is all the hype and by no means overrated. The Ravens were able to take Welker out the
game in Week 4 anyway: on his first game back from injury, Welker only had six catches against the Ravens –which is his 2nd lowest total for the season—for 48 yards. The Pats went on to win that game 27-21. Tom Brady is 14-3 career in the playoffs and has never lost his first playoff game; the Pats finally have all their backs healthy: Laurence Maroney sat out Week 17 and will be rested, Sammy Morris is back from his injuries that sidelined him for six games in the middle of the season, and Fred Taylor rushed for two TDs last week and has recovered from his ankle injury that kept him out 10 games.Bengals over Jets
The Jets played out of their minds on Sunday, and there’s no way that will happen
again, this time in Cincinnati. The Bengals have had some quality wins this season, including at Green Bay, twice against Pittsburgh, and twice against Baltimore. Their losses came in a last-second lucky touchdown in Week 1 in Denver (they were good then, remember?), at Minnesota, at San Diego, a fluke loss to the up-and-down Oakland Raiders, and a Week 17 blowout that really had no impact on their playoff seeding. The only quality wins I’d give the Jets came in the first two weeks of the season against the Texans and Patriots; you could also throw in Week 15 against the Falcons, but I wouldn’t. The Bengals now know Sanchez won’t throw the ball next week (he threw for only 63 yards in Week 17) and the Cincinnati D can focus on stopping Brad Smith and the above-average run game of the Jets.Cowboys over Eagles
What December woes? (What overused cliché?) Tony Romo has averaged 310 yards his last six games, throwing only two interceptions to go along with eleven touchdowns.
The ‘Boys will be back in Dallas, and I don’t see any reason they won’t steamroll the Eagles in Round #2. The Dallas defense is playing harder than they have all season, and have shutout their last two opponents. The ‘Boys will likely be playing for their coach Wade Phillip’s job, and I think that they will be motivated more than they have been all season. The Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since 1996. Jerry Jones didn’t spend a bazillion dollars on his new stadium to lose another playoff game. He wants to win. The Cowboy fans want to win. His team wants to win. They will win.Packers over Cardinals
Aaron Rodgers is coming into his own after living in the shadow of Brett Favre, and is becoming one of the elite passers in the NFL. He still has some game management skills that he can improve upon, but when it comes to purely throwing the football, there’s few I’d rather have than Aaron Rodgers. Speaking of Brett Favre though, I
don’t think veteran Kurt Warner, at age 38, really has any more big games in him. He averages less than 250 passing yards in his last five games (excluding Week 17, when he threw but six passes), and the Cardinals don’t really have much of a run game that he can lean on: Tim Hightower hasn’t had more than 15 carries all season. Of the twelve playoff teams, the Cardinals total the second fewest yards per game, and I don’t see their defense stopping the Packers 6th-ranked offense. To tell you the truth, I’m not really impressed with the Cardinals. At all. You know how many wins they had against teams with records better than .500? One. Against the Texans in Week 5…Warner and the Cards were coming off of a buy week. I mean look at their schedule. They beat St. Louis twice, they beat Seattle twice, and they beat the Tigers: that’s half their wins right there. If they lost to the 49ers twice, how do they expect to beat the Packers?
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